Thursday, August 6, 2009

Things they never tell you about pregnancy

You will soon realize what it feels like to be an old man with an enlarged prostate. On a scale of 0 (not at all) to 5 (almost always), let's rate our symptoms using the American Urological Associations Index:

1. INCOMPLETE EMPTYING: Over the last month or so, how often have you had a sensation of not emptying your bladder completely after you finished urinating?
5

2. FREQUENCY: During the last month or so, how often have you had to urinate again less than 2 hours after you finished urinating?
5

3. INTERMITTENCY: During the last month or so, how often have you stopped and started again several times when you urinated?
5

4. URGENCY: During the last month or so, how often have you found it difficult to postpone urination?
5

5. WEAK STREAM: During the last month or so, how often have you had a weak urinary stream?
5

6. STRAINING: During the last month or so, how often have you had to push or strain to begin urination?**
5

7. SLEEPING: During the last month, how many times did you most typically get up to urinate from the time you went to bed at night until the time you got up in the morning? (times at night)
5

**OMG. This might be TMI, but I woke up the other morning and had to pee so bad it HURT. I waddled to the toilet, sat down, and COULD NOT pee. I tried so hard, but nothing happened. I went back to bed, and immediately felt like I couldn't hold it. Back to the bathroom, and still nothing. After an HOUR I was finally able to pee, and this was after a concerted effort to get myself into sort of a lying down position on the toilet. I'm glad there were no witnesses. My mom tells me that this sort of "straining" is normal. Great.